


do you see someone with a future?

by leiascully



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Community: dogdaysofsummer, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-16
Updated: 2006-07-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 07:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiascully/pseuds/leiascully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He was my brother!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	do you see someone with a future?

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: Post-Hogwarts  
> A/N: The prompt was the song "Fast Asleep".   
> Disclaimer: _Harry Potter_ and all related characters are the property of JK Rowling and Scholastic. No profit is made from this work and no infringement is intended.

They were boys without futures, raging at each other in a summer storm. The water seemed to steam off them, heated by their anger, but it was a trick of the wind that whipped the rain into an equal frenzy.

"He was my brother!" Sirius screamed, hands clenched by his sides with the last dram of firewhiskey rattling in the bottle. "Why would he come to you?"

Remus was washed into sepia tones by the rain. He kept his voice just low enough to be heard. "I have no bloody idea, Sirius. I certainly didn't ask for him to come to me."

"It doesn't make sense!" Water dripped into Sirius' mouth as he yells. His hair was plastered to his neck, and he was damp all down the back, where the collar of his jacket gapped. "He was MY BROTHER!" His argument revolved around this point, Remus thought, and he didn't blame Sirius. Regulus and Andromeda were the only Blacks who still spoke to Sirius, and Reg infrequently. "At least I wouldn't have turned him away!"

"I didn't turn him away!" Remus shouted, startled into volume. "I didn't! I wouldn't! He was your brother!"

"Then where is he?" Sirius flung his arms wide, head lowered. "Eh? Where is he, if you didn't turn him away?"

"I took him to Dumbledore." Remus shook the water out of his face, swept a quick hand over his brow. Sirius staggered closer. Remus could smell the firewhiskey on his breath. "Sirius, I took him to Dumbledore and that's the honest truth."

They stood in the rain and stared each other down through wet lashes, the boy without a family and the moon-cursed one.

"Sirius, he was a Death Eater. He showed me the Mark." He didn't mention the bloody gashes around the Mark, where Regulus had tried to slice the sign from his forearm. He didn't mention the bloodshot whites of Regulus' wide eyes, or the way he had whimpered against Remus's chest for sanctuary.

"Sanctuary," Regulus had half-gasped, half-moaned, clutching at Remus' shirt. His sudden appearance at the door had startled Remus, but he could not turn Reg away, not when he had Sirius' cheekbones and Sirius' abrupt need for shelter and affection. Remus had given him a sweater and trousers to replace the tattered robes, which had gone in the fireplace and made a lot of noxious smoke that still made his breath harsh. He had cast a Disillusionment Charm on Regulus and taken them both to the castle as quickly as possible.

And now the news that Regulus was dead. After Dumbledore's wise eyes, after all their cunning plans, the Prophet trumpeted the news, and half the world would celebrate. Remus bowed his head.

"I did what I could, Sirius."

"It wasn't enough," said Sirius fiercely. He pulled from the bottle and then threw it to the ground. "You should have done more."

"I did what I could," Remus said patiently, with a lover's agony in his voice. "For you, I tried to protect him. And if Albus Dumbledore wasn't strong enough, how could I be?"

"You probably gave him back to Vol - the Dark Lord. You, werewolf. You're a bloody spy!" Sirius took a wild swing and Remus caught his arm with the hands that looked so gentle but had a werewolf's strength.

"Sirius!" His voice was the crack of thunder after brittle lightning. "I would never, never betray you. I would kill myself first, and though there was never any love lost between me and Reg, I would protect him for your sake. You know that. I did what I could. It wasn't enough, but that," his voice broke, "that is what war is."

Sirius strained briefly against Remus' hold and then collapsed against him, his head against Remus' chest where Regulus' had been before, and the same ache in Remus' heart of the helpless saviour. Sirius was crying, but the tears were barely warmer than the rain, and Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius and prepared to Apparate them home. It was an awful, bloody summer and they had lost their halcyon days somewhere, adrift without futures or destinies.


End file.
